Wireless lighting fixtures have become prevalent in today's lighting systems. There are a wide range of control devices available to control wireless lighting fixtures, including mobile and fixed, which can be either line powered or battery powered. For example, a wireless lighting fixture can be controlled by a single (battery or line powered) occupancy sensor or by multiple occupancy sensors placed at various entry points to a building. The process of associating a sensor, such as an occupancy sensor, with a switch to control a wireless light fixture is called commissioning. Because the sensor and the switch typically communicate via radio frequency, it is important that the sensor be associated or commissioned with the correct switch. The process of commissioning wireless lighting fixtures to work with control devices can be a critical step in installing wireless light fixtures. For example, in a large installation there can be thousands of wireless lighting fixtures that need to be commissioned so that they can be controlled properly.
One current approach to commissioning wireless light fixtures involves assigning a MAC address to each light fixture. The MAC address is entered into a database. A computer communicates with each wireless light fixture via a wireless network and associates the MAC address in the database with the wireless light fixture. Additionally, a technician manually activates each wireless light fixture by flashing each device with an infrared signal which places the fixture in the join mode allowing it to be associated with a control device, such as an occupancy sensor. This can be a tedious and cumbersome process that is subject to operator error.